If you want to take your eCommerce brand to the next level without running the risk of making any of these common mistakes, you’ve certainly come to the right place.
We’re going to talk you through the 10 best ways to successfully promote your brand online, and once you’re done you’ll have everything you need to transform your business.
Ready to get started? We thought so…
10 Ways To Successfully Promote Your eCommerce Brand
1. Targeting existing customers really works
When you want to promote your business the smarter way it pays to start by reaching out to the people who already know who you are.
These are your repeat customers, and they’ve probably been with you for years. They’ve clearly spotted something about your brand that they love, so why not delve deeper to understand specifically what that is?
By offering them exclusive access to new ranges and collections, you can ensure they remain loyal for years to come. A friendly and playful abandoned cart email will also go down well with this section of your market.
2. Create a mobile-friendly browsing experience
Mobile browsing is now the most common way for people to shop online, and it’s getting more popular by the day. The times when you could get away with a poor quality app or mobile site are now a thing of the past because it’s no longer a novelty.
People won’t put their phones away and dust off their desktops, they’ll just click over to one of your competitors. That means they’re growing at your expense, and that’s clearly not a good thing for the longterm future of your brand.
3. Offer discount codes to turn regular shoppers into micro-influencers
Everyone likes to feel valued, so why not reward your most loyal shoppers with discount codes every now and again. If you give them an interesting and fun style then people are going to want to share them all over social media.
Not only is this is a great way of leveraging your social media profiles, but it also turns your best customers into a free marketing team. Ideal if you want to reap the rewards of the ultimate word of mouth referral.
4. Seasonal promotions always hit the spot
When the holidays are moving quickly into view, it’s time to get your seasonal promotions and festive offerings up to speed. Putting thought into them well in advance will allow you to create a joined-up promotional campaign that works right across the year.
Even if the core features of the offers themselves don’t change all that dramatically from one festivity to the next, at least your brand will be seen to be joining in with the fun. This is really important if you want to humanize your brand so that people actually want to connect with you.
5. Create the fear of missing out with flash sales and lightning deals
Nobody wants to miss out, and FOMO is particularly evident when you look at just how many people spend their lives glued to their phones.
They want to ensure they don’t miss anything, and you need to be making use of this primal human desire. Here’re 3 ways you can create FOMO with ease:
- Offer 1-hour warnings that give huge discounts on a particular product
- Create limited stock sales with countdown timers that pop up during your slowest periods
- Have a note on your homepage that a lightning sale will start at any point in the next 24 hours
6. Offer PayPal and one-click ordering to build a great reputation
Promoting your eCommerce brand isn’t just about running ads and posting to social media, sometimes all you need to do is streamline the user experience for every single shopper. Amazon’s One-Click Ordering process is a great example, because:
- It allows shoppers to buy exactly what they want without duplicating their personal details
- It makes checkouts virtually instantaneous which is particularly good for low-value impulse buys
- It enhances Amazon’s reputation as a company that’s easy to deal with
7. Add photos to customer testimonials to enhance your social proof
This one is so simple that the headline really does do it justice. If you want to provide social proof in the age of paid-for reviews, you need to personalize the testimonials as much as possible.
Photos, Twitter handles, links to LinkedIn profiles; add whatever you can think of that will show the next browser who reads them that the reviews they’re seeing were left by real people.
8. Have a bestsellers section on your website
Ask any of the clothing stores or best writing services how they promote their products and services and they’ll tell you all about the importance of having a bestsellers section.
This is the part of your site where you want to draw people in and convince them that they’ve found something that’s simply too good to miss.
By making a feature of your best sellers you can really focus on improving your margins on your key product lines by shifting more stock. Ideal if you want to make more money than ever before.
9. Add secure icons to your display to boost trustability
Trust is the name of the game when it comes to online retail, so make sure you invest in it in a big way.
Shoppers are more aware than ever of how their personal and financial data is being used, so you’re going to need to ensure you go to all lengths to ensure your brand isn’t damaged by anything that could have been so easily avoided.
Security icons and accreditations are a great way to build consumer confidence, and are something you can look into as soon as you’re finished reading.
10. Video content is the perfect way to catch the eye
Last but not least, if you want to connect with your audience you’re going to need to use the most engaging type of content: video. It’s passive, it requires minimal effort and attention, and it catches the eye from the moment it starts playing.
Think about what your shoppers expect to hear from you, and then repackage it in a new and exciting way that makes them excited about what they’re about to see.
Final Thoughts
Now that we’ve told you everything there is to know about promoting your brand online, all you have to do is get busy putting our hints and tips into practice.
Start by taking a step back so you can see the big picture, and then begin creating your own promotional strategy. That way you’ll have the direction and focus you need to take things in an exciting new direction.